Copeland Casati, founder of Green Modern Kits and Green Cottage Kits, just sent over a link to her newly launched website for Green Cabin Kits. They have two designs that are customizable: CornerHouse (top 3 renderings) and The Dogtrot Mod (bottom 3 renderings). They’re quite slick, aren’t they? CornerHouse is an expandable design that’s versatile enough for urban infill or some rural location in the middle of nowhere. You choose. The Dogtrot Mod is also expandable but a little different. It features an open court in the middle to ventilate and separate the living spaces. Both kits were designed to accomodate rainwater collection and solar power generation.

The founders of Noble Home, based in West Somerville, Massachusetts, saw first-hand the manner with which homes were being constructed in the United States — big, cheap, toxic, and out of the price range of many families. So, they set out to create a new way. Their home kits are versatile, easy to put together, sustainable, affordable, and healthy. They offer elements such as greenhouses, root cellars, water collection, solar, wind, and even human-powered energy!

Starting earlier this month, the NY Times began publishing the blog of Lou Ureneck, chairman of the Journalism Department at Boston University. The blog was given a name we’ve seen before, From the Ground Up, and will document Lou’s journey building a cabin in some picturesque scenery of western Maine. Take a gander at what he’s written so far and it may conjure up thoughts of Henry David Thoreau’s own cabin near Walden Pond. That’s a purposeful analogy, though, because Lou channeled a bit of Henry while pushing the envelope of frugality with this interesting endeavor. All in, the $30,000 cabin and $32,000 swath of property promises to be quite the retreat.

Last month, Heyday Partnership began construction on a slick small lot development called Rock Row. Located in the Eagle Rock area, which is north of downtown LA, Rock Row will feature town home-esque (no party wall) properties at affordable-ish ($475k-$550k) prices. Believe it or not — those of you outside of New York and California, Rock Row is considered one of the first, reasonably-priced, green housing projects in Los Angeles. The development team includes an architect, developer, and builder working in collaboration, so Heyday is able to pass on affordability to future home buyers.

This is the design for a new place to stay called h2hotel in Healdsburg, California. Healdsburg is a small town of something like eleven thousand people. It’s smack dab in the heart of Sonoma County, a place where wine enthusiasts and travelers go for rest and respite. Environmentalism is quite common in northern California, so its natural that h2hotel would be designed to include a plentiful array of green amenities. And starting in 2010, transients and guests of all kinds will have the opportunity to stay in one of thirty-six rooms in the four-floor h2hotel.

Over a year ago, we took a moment to discuss the Truro Residence, which was designed by Zero Energy Design. Back then, though, the home was confined to renderings, while now, it’s fully constructed and inhabited. It is, as you will quickly note, a 6,200 square foot second home that acts a lot smaller that it actually is. The client wanted something to accommodate a large and fluctuating number of family members for weekends and holidays. As a result, ZED split the home into a “living bar” and “sleeping bar.” It’s an interesting idea that creates impressive results.